The time in
ChinaChina follows a single standard time offset of UTC+08:00
(eight hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time), despite China
spanning five geographical time zones. The official national standard
time is called
BeijingBeijing Time (Chinese: 北京时间) domestically [1]
and
ChinaChina Standard Time (CST) internationally.[2] Daylight saving time
has not been observed since 1991.[3]
The special administrative regions (SARs) maintain their own time
authorities, with standards called
Hong Kong TimeHong Kong Time (香港時間) and
MacauMacau Standard Time (澳門標準時間). These have been equivalent
to
BeijingBeijing time since 1992.
In addition, it has been proposed during 2005's NPC & CPPCC of
ChinaChina that provinces in the west (such as Shaanxi, Sichuan, and
Chongqing) should use the time offset of UTC+07:00. However, this
proposal has not been voted upon yet.[4][5]

Contents

1 History
2 Geography
3 Regions with special time regulations

3.1 Xinjiang
3.2 Hong Kong
3.3 Macau

4 IANA time zone database

4.1 Backward compatibility zone

5 See also
6 References
7 External links

History[edit]
Main article: Historical time zones of China
In the 1870s, the Shanghai Xujiahui Observatory was constructed by a
French catholic missionary. In 1880s officials in Shanghai French
Concession started to provide a time announcement service using the
Shanghai Mean Solar Time provided by the aforementioned observatory
for ships into and out of Shanghai. By the end of 19th century, the
time standard provided by the observatory had been switched to
GMT+8.[5] The practice has spread to other coastal ports, and in 1902
the "Coastal Time" was proposed to be the universal timezone for all
the coastal ports in China. However, the timezone for the rest of
ChinaChina remained undetermined.[6]
Until 1913, the official time standard for the whole of
ChinaChina was
still the apparent solar time of Beijing, the capital of the country
at the time. Starting in 1914, the Republic of
ChinaChina government began
adopting the
BeijingBeijing Local Mean Solar Time as the official time
standard. By 1918, five standard time zones had been proposed by the
Central Observatory of
Beiyang governmentBeiyang government of Republic of China,
including the
KunlunKunlun (UTC+05:30), Sinkiang-Tibet (UTC+06:00),
Kansu-Szechwan (UTC+07:00), Chungyuan (UTC+08:00), and Changpai
(UTC+08:30).[5]

The 1947 version timezone assignment

After the defeat of
Beiyang governmentBeiyang government in 1928, the mission of the
Central Observatory was moved to Nanjing, and the reference time
standard used for the construction of traditional
Chinese CalendarChinese Calendar was
shifted from
BeijingBeijing Mean Solar Time to GMT+8.[5]
In 1930s, the proposed five timezones had not been fully observed,
causing regions in inner
ChinaChina area to adopt their own time standards,
resulting in chaos. On 9 March 1939, when the Ministry of the Interior
organized a Standard Time Conference in Chongqing, it was decided to
adopt the five timezone proposal with slight modification of their
borders starting from 1 June, however it was also decided that the
entire country would use the Kansu-Szechwan Time (GMT+7) during the
Second Sino-Japanese WarSecond Sino-Japanese War which began at the time.[5]
Following the end of World War II, the five-timezone system was
resumed, although there is little information about the historical
usage of time in the
KunlunKunlun and
ChangpaiChangpai zones. A further refined
system with adjustment to zone assignment in the Northwest part of
GansuGansu was announced in 1947 for adoption in 1948. However, as the
Chinese Civil WarChinese Civil War came to its end in 1949-1950, regional governments
under the influence of Communist Party of China, other than those in
XinjiangXinjiang and Tibet, switched to use the same time as Beijing, which is
GMT+8, and is later known as
BeijingBeijing Time or
ChinaChina Standard Time.[5]
There are two independent sources that claim the Communist Party of
China, and/or the People's Republic of China, were using apparent
solar time for
BeijingBeijing Time before the period between 27 September
1949 and 6 October 1949, and they adopted the time of GMT+8 within
that period of time, however such claim is dubious.[7]
The change in use of time in Tibet is undocumented but is known to use
till at least mid-1950s, and the use of time in
XinjiangXinjiang have been
switched back and forth between GMT+6 and GMT+8 during the period of
1969 and 1986 and resulted in the current multiple time standard
situation in the area. (see "Xinjiang" section below for detail)[5]
Daylight saving timeDaylight saving time was observed from 1945 to 1948, and from 1986 to
1991.[5]
In 1997 and 1999,
Hong KongHong Kong and
MacauMacau were transferred to
ChinaChina from
the
United KingdomUnited Kingdom and
PortugalPortugal and they were established as special
administrative regions. Although the sovereignty of the SARs belongs
to China, they retain their own policies regarding time zones for
historical reasons. Due to their geographical locations, both are
within the UTC+08:00 time zone, which is the same as the national
standard —
BeijingBeijing time.
Geography[edit]
As an illustration of the wide range, the daylight hours for the
Chinese westernmost—not including
XinjiangXinjiang due to local customs (see
below)—and easternmost county seats are included:[8]

Division
Daylight time

Location
County
Province
1 January
1 July

Westernmost
Zanda
Tibet
09:41 – 19:49
07:40 – 21:50

Easternmost
Fuyuan
Heilongjiang
06:54 – 15:18
03:05 – 19:08

Regions with special time regulations[edit]
Xinjiang[edit]
Main article:
XinjiangXinjiang Time

Map of Xinjiang, together with rest of China

In Xinjiang, two time standards, namely,
BeijingBeijing Time and Xinjiang
Time, are used in parallel.[4][5]
XinjiangXinjiang Time, also known as Ürümqi Time (Chinese:
乌鲁木齐时间; pinyin: Wūlǔmùqí Shíjiān), is set due to its
geographical location in the westernmost part of the country.[9] The
time offset is UTC+06:00, which is two hours behind Beijing, and is
shared with neighbouring
KazakhstanKazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
Currently, timezone usage within
XinjiangXinjiang is roughly split along the
ethnic divide, with most ethnic Han following
BeijingBeijing time and most
ethnic
UyghursUyghurs following Ürümqi Time.[10][unreliable source?] Some
local authorities are now using both time standards side by
side.[11][12] Television stations schedule programmes in different
time standards according to their nature.[5]
The coexistence of two timezones within the same region causes some
confusion among the local population, especially when inter-racial
communication occurs. When a time is mentioned in conversation between
Han and Uyghur, it is necessary to either explicitly make clear
whether the time is in
XinjiangXinjiang Time or
BeijingBeijing Time, or convert the
time according to the ethnicity of the other party.[13][14][15] The
double time standard is particularly observable in Xinjiang
Television, which schedules its Chinese channel according to Beijing
time and its Uyghur and Kazakh channels according to
XinjiangXinjiang time.
[16]
Regardless,
BeijingBeijing Time users in
XinjiangXinjiang usually schedule their
daily activities two hours later than those who live in eastern China.
As such, stores and offices in
XinjiangXinjiang are commonly open from 10am to
7pm
BeijingBeijing Time, which equals 8am to 5pm in Ürümqi Time.[17] This
is known as the work/rest time in Xinjiang.[18]
In most areas of Xinjiang, the opening time of local authorities is
additionally modified by shifting the morning session 30–60 minutes
backward and the afternoon session 30 minutes forward to extend the
lunch break for 60–90 minutes, so as to avoid the intense heat
during noon time in the area during summer.[12]
Hong Kong[edit]
Main article:
Hong KongHong Kong Time
Hong KongHong Kong maintains its own time authority after transfer of
sovereignty in 1997. The
Hong Kong TimeHong Kong Time (Chinese: 香港時間;
pinyin: Xiānggǎng Shíjiān; Cantonese Yale: Hēunggóng sìgaan) is
UTC+08:00 all year round, and daylight saving time has not been used
since 1979.[19]
Greenwich Mean TimeGreenwich Mean Time was adopted as the basis in 1904,
and UTC was adopted as a standard in 1972. Before that, local time was
determined by astronomical observations at
Hong KongHong Kong Observatory using
a 6-inch Lee Equatorial and a 3-inch Transit Circle.
Macau[edit]
MacauMacau maintains its own time authority after transfer of sovereignty
in 1999. The
MacauMacau Standard Time[20] (Chinese: 澳門標準時間;
pinyin: Àomén Biāozhǔn Shíjiān; Portuguese: Hora Oficial de
Macau[21]) is the time in Macau. The time is UTC+08:00 all year round,
and daylight saving time has not been used since 1980.[22]
IANA time zone database[edit]
The territory of the Peoples Republic of
ChinaChina is covered in the IANA
time zone database by the following zones. The reason why
Asia/Shanghai is used instead of
BeijingBeijing is because Shanghai is the
most populous location in the zone.[23]
Columns marked with * are from the file zone.tab of the database.

Backward compatibility zone[edit]
The following zones, including Asia/Kashgar, Asia/Chongqing, and
Asia/Harbin, are kept in the "backzone" file of the IANA timezone
database for backward compatibility.

Public holidays
Rural life
Sexuality
Socialism with Chinese characteristics
Social issues
Social relations
Social structure
Social welfare
Suicide
Terrorism
Time zones
Urban life
Water supply and sanitation
Women
Xiaokang (middle-class)
Primary stage of socialism